


Devour My Soul or: How Remus Found his Family, All on His Own

by Acantha_Echo



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Attempted Escapes, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Hero Patton, Hero with a past Logan, Hero with a past Remy, Human AU, Kidnapped, Medical Tests, OC bad guy - Freeform, Panic Attacks, Remus is chaotic, Science, So done with all of this, Tags to be updated as we go, There is history here, Threats, Virgil having a crisis, Virgil is so fed up, Virgil still wants that nap, but then does he want that, dark but still redeemable, everything else can burn, he wants his family, hero roman, is bad bad?, lots of kidnapping, mild voilence, morally grey remus, nothing graphic, super hero AU, super powers, villain remus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25096468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acantha_Echo/pseuds/Acantha_Echo
Summary: Remus is living his best life. Motivated by one goal, and one goal only, he is determined to bring his family together. It is a little awkward that Virgil doesn’t see eye to eye with him on most things. Worst of all, that he had to kidnap him in order to just talk to him but Remus is sure that his ‘baby brother’ will come around in the end.After all, it isn’t like he is going to let Virgil go anywhere.Will Virgil be able to stay true to his ideals and his family? Or will he sacrifice his own morals for the sake of those he loves?Remus is determined to come out of this struggle on top. As far as he is concerned, nothing is too much - or too far - if the end goal gets him his family. He will stop at nothing, not even murder.As well as maybe make some people pay for hurting Virgil along the way.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673149
Comments: 80
Kudos: 163





	1. Another Time Around

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Hello. Welcome to my newest story. This is set in the same universe as Absent Gods and Silent Tyranny and is, in a way, a sequel in that it takes place after it. You don’t need to have read Absent Gods to follow this story as it is its own adventure, but it would certainly help. And its ten chapters of Logan angst, so you might enjoy it?
> 
> This story is going to be different in that it is told from multiple PoV’s as I couldn’t tell the story I wanted purely from one. It’s also going to be longer. The fifteen chapters is a guess at the moment, I’m a few chapters ahead, writing wise and I know where the story goes. It just depends if I can tell it in that many. My outline says I can, but we all know outlines are rarely accurate. It is also another stamp in my bingo card, this time for 'Kidnapped'. Gotta respect the classics. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story with Remus in the starring role as our ‘villain’ of the piece. But not really. Still, he is Remus and he’s more chaotic than Logan ever was.

** **

### Another Time Around

** **

Virgil wasn’t used to being on this side of things and he had very quickly come to the conclusion that he didn’t like it. He was used to sitting in his chair, an earpiece in, listening as the action part of the team went about their business sure. He was used to showing them inventions and then watching through hacked CCTV cameras as they used said inventions with pride, true. He was even used - as much as he hated the thought - to the way his heart would try to claw its way up through his throat everytime those idiots got themselves in danger.

What he wasn’t used to however, was being involved in a rescue mission where he wasn’t the target.

Someone had taken Roman. 

Even now, just thinking that made his heart leap out of his chest, a spike of terror that was impossible to control.

His brother, his hero. Virgil had seen him be knocked down time after time. It had never been enough to keep him down for longer than a few moments. Then he would bounce back up as if nothing had happened. Still wearing that cheerful grin. Quite often with a funny little quip. That was one of the things that the public loved about their hero Prince. How he had an answer for everything.

They didn’t know that Roman would spend hours in front of the bathroom mirror practising them, running through all sorts of situations in his head so that he could have something ready on hand. They didn’t get to see the reality of living with a hero, the times Roman would come back smiling but bruised. All they saw was the glamour. The way in which he would save them all. 

The problem was, Roman had started to think that he was invincible. And perhaps, just perhaps, Virgil had slipped into that kind of thinking too. Because he did get back up everytime. Until the last time. When the giant death robot had knocked him down and then dragged his body along the ground. It had tossed the still form into an even bigger robot which had then rocked out of the city - too still, far too still and if it wasn’t for the monitor on Roman’s outfit Virgil might have thought him dead.

Virgil used to scold him so much for just getting back up time and time again. For all the ways in which he would carelessly risk his life for someone else. It was the way his brother was and really, Virgil wouldn’t expect or want him to act any differently. That didn’t make it any easier to watch when it happened. 

If Roman had thought he got an ear full from Virgil before, it was nothing compared to the rant he was going to get as soon as he was home, safe and sound. 

Roman probably threw the biggest hissy fit when he saw the marks on his face. Assuming he had ever woke- no, Virgil knew he had woken up. There was no possible reality in which he didn’t wake up. Whoever had taken him, had removed the monitor before Virgil could trace the signal, leaving them without any proof that Roman was alive. But he had to be alive. 

He just had to be. 

Is this how Roman had felt each time? How could he have possibly managed? It was like every bad panic attack and dark thought all rolled into one. All Virgil wanted to do was curl up in a ball and try not to cry. Before failing, and crying.

Well, that or punch whoever took Roman on the nose. 

That probably wouldn’t have worked too well. What with his brother being a super powered hero - as well as a super powered pain the ass - and Virgil just having a couple of skills in computers and science. Whoever had managed to capture Roman and then stopped him from just escaping had to be truly powerful. Roman wasn’t the sort to take being held hostage lying down, if he could escape, he would. He was the Prince, not the damsel in distress.

They still didn’t know who it was. That lack of knowledge made the skin on the back of Virgil’s back itch painfully. He didn’t like not knowing. None of the villians that usually operated in their city built giant robots. The closest would have been Doctor Logic, but Logan didn’t do that sort of thing anymore. And his robots tended to be on the cuter side, not that he would ever admit it. 

None of the villains that they had dealt with in the past had ever been able to keep Roman prisoner. Which meant this was someone new. No, not new. New to them yes, but very old to the ways of the villian world. This was someone truly dangerous in a way that made Karen - the Dragon Witch - seem like a walk in the park. And Virgil hadn’t been able to find _any_ useful information as to their identity. Nobody had seen the villain themselves. Just the robots as they terrorised the city. 

They knew where he was apparently being held but that just made it worse in a way. The robot’s compound was a good hour out of town, nestled halfway up a mountain. Because of course it would be. If not a mountain then under the sea or somewhere equally ridiculous. Beyond the building itself, they didn’t know anything. Not the layout, not the amount of defences, not any likely locations where Roman could be being held within. They were going in completely blind and it made Virgil’s already heightened anxiety skyrocket. 

The whole team was going there now, Virgil reduced to piggybacking off various cameras to visibly follow their trail for as long as he could. The camera wouldn’t make it up the mountain. Patton was giving a soft running commentary as they went, offering words of comfort as he went. It was better than nothing, and his friend always knew the right thing to say.

Right now however, the only ‘right’ thing would be telling Virgil that they had found Roman unharmed and were coming home. 

Even Logan was involved in the physical side of things. He tended to split his time between the two aspects of working as a hero, although his focus was in the lab. Roman was in danger though and Logan was not going to wait back at base. Virgil had never wanted to be out in the field more than in this moment. He had sent the best of every invention he had out with them and it didn’t feel like nearly enough. How could it be when he had no idea what they would face?

There were no more cameras once they left the city properly. Nothing for Virgil to stare at that was live and so he swapped to the old aerial photos of the region. They were nearly a month out of date, but they showed the complex, partly masked by the treeline. It was all he had to look at, Virgil staring at him. As if by glaring hard enough he could magically make them update into live aerial footage. Which he didn’t have.

Virgil shouldn’t have let Patton talk him out of hacking a satellite. 

“We’ve reached the bottom of the mountain, we’re heading up on foot.” Speaking of Patton, it seemed as though they were almost there. Virgil could feel his nerves growing. A headache was forming between his eyes, a cluster of agonized nerve ends that strained against the stress of the moment. Because the moment didn’t end. It went on and on. With more waiting, more sounds of the three of them moving through trees. More heavy breathing as they slipped around small robot patrols and at least there was someone in the base. Virgil just hoped that it meant Roman was still there. 

“We’re at the wall now. Time to save a prince. I can se-” 

A sharp popping sound had him flinching, jerking his head to the side in a bid to escape a noise that had come from inside his own ear. 

“Patton? Remy? Logan? Come on, someone, answer me!”

No matter who he called out for, nothing but static answered him, a harsh sound which made him twitch the longer it went on. 

“Goddammit!” Virgil yanked the earpiece from his ear in frustration, flinging the broken item across the room. Whoever had taken Roman had fried it on the hero's side. He was blind and deaf now. There was nothing for him to do, he couldn’t help, he couldn’t even watch. All Virgil could do was wait and hope that they would eventually stumble back in with his brother. 

Virgil was never letting go of Roman when he got back. He was going to have to give up the hero business and get used to having an emo permanently wrapped around his waist because Virgil was not letting him out of his sight. Or he could put a bell on him. Roman liked to joke that Virgil needed one of those because of the two - only two and he thought that was a pretty good record considering the company he kept - times he had been kidnapped. 

Unlike the rest of the idiots he loved and called family, Virgil didn’t go looking for trouble. He didn’t fling himself in harm's way time after time. Two kidnappings was unlucky sure, but it was nothing compared to the daily danger Roman put himself in. The real wonder was that this hadn’t happened before.

Yeah, he was one hundred percent putting a bell around Roman’s neck when he got home. Possibly handcuffing his brother to the bed as well. He knew Roman, he knew how much he hated being in the hospital ward. Even if by some miracle, he wasn’t visibly harmed, they would still need to check him over and make sure there were no lasting nasty side effects. Which meant he would have to spend at least a night there, no matter how badly he pouted. 

Virgil swallowed heavily at the delayed thought that Roman was almost certainly injured. It was something that he had always known in a cold, logical sort of way. A thought he had carefully kept detached from the rest of his mind. Roman was hurt. Who knew how badly. He was hurt and Virgil was stuck here, without any means of helping.

With a snarl, Virgil pushed himself out of his chair, letting it skid across the room. A soft but startled beep sounded behind him, the gentle whirl of wheels coming to life as Tom the robot moved out from behind the abandoned chair. His little buddy had been dozing, letting his batteries recharge. He wouldn’t have been aware of anything until the chair had collided with him, Virgil feeling a sting of guilt.

“Sorry Tom,” Virgil mumbled. He lifted a hand, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. Another beep sounded below him, Tom ever so gently bumping against his ankles to let him know he wasn’t mad. Despite everything that was going on, Virgil couldn’t help but give a tiny smile at the robot’s antics. “You’re a good friend.” 

There really was nothing to do but wait. And wait. Wait some more. 

For fifty nine whole minutes, he waited without any sign of life from his friends. It felt like an eternity, but Virgil had put the mission clock on the moment they had reached the perimeter and so he knew exactly how long it had really been. It didn’t do much to help him. Virgil still had no idea what was going on out there. Or how long they would be. The cameras closest to the base were still a good forty minutes drive from it. Even if they had waltzed right in without any fighting and found Roman in the first room they looked, it would still take them more than nineteen minutes to get out of the compound, back down the mountain, back into the van and towards the first camera.

He shouldn’t be surprised that he hadn’t seen any hint of them on the cameras. He shouldn’t be worried.

Who was Virgil kidding? Of course he would be worried. It was the sort of person he was. He worried every time they went out on patrol. This was just so much worse.

The sound of his computer room door hissing open had Virgil spinning, eyes wide. Someone was in the base? There was nobody in the base but him, or at least there wasn’t supposed to be. All the alarms were set, and they all ran through here. If someone had tripped one, it should have shown up. True, Virgil hadn’t been watching the security feeds but why would he when he had an empty road to stare at instead?

The shadow in the doorway stepped forward, forming into an all too familiar figure. Virgil felt a bright smile break across his face, lips stretching so wide that he thought they might crack. For the first time in a long while, he made no attempt to hide his feelings. 

It was Roman!

Looking a little out of breath, his hair was less than perfectly styled. But still. Roman. His brother. Without any injuries. Virgil could feel his eyes start to fill with tears of joy and there had been some part of him that had feared he might never see his brother again. Virgil had never allowed that part of him any attention, but the dark thoughts had hissed in his mind all the same. None of that mattered though, because Roman was home and Virgil was so happy.

So pissed off as well, because Roman was grinning at him as if everything was fine and he hadn’t given Virgil multiple heart attacks in the days since his disappearance. How dare he come swanning in here with his stupid smug smile and act like everything was fine? A smile that... not even Roman would normally be wearing right now. Maybe it was the stress of the moment. His left eye was twitching ever so slightly, a flicker that most people would have missed. 

Most people weren’t a paranoid, worried brother who hadn’t slept in nearly thirty hours and was running off coffee and spite alone. 

It was like Roman to hide how he felt behind a smile, Virgil supposed. 

And the others. Where were the others? They hadn’t gone past any of his cameras, Virgil would have noticed. Which meant they were still in the compound. But how could they be, when Roman was here? 

Roman must have escaped on his own. Of course he would. That was his brother. Refusing to be a damsel in distress right till the end. And so he could brag about his grand escape and how amazing it had been.

He wasn’t bragging now. In fact... Roman hadn’t said anything. Neither, to be fair, had Virgil. But Virgil wasn’t the sort to speak, not in the way Roman could fill hours of empty space. There was so much in his head that Virgil wanted to say, so many lectures and worried rants but he was saving those for after he had got Roman checked out by every hospital program they had. And then rechecked a second time. If Virgil was feeling spicy, he might even run the system a third time, just to be sure.

None of that explained why Roman was silent. Just standing there, staring at him. Still with that devilish grin as though waiting for Virgil to say or do anything. 

Something wasn’t right here. That chill in the back of his neck was crawling up into his skull, an icy cold finger of dread. Something was wrong, something was so very wrong here and he could almost reach out and touch it.

“Ro...” Virgil trailed off, head tilted to the side. It looked like his brother. Right down to the costume that Virgil had designed himself. A little more pristine than Virgil would have expected after being in a fight and then held prisoner. It looked almost new. It was still his brother’s costume though. His brother’s face. Yet... not. Somehow. There was something wrong, that chill making him want to shudder. Something that made him want to run away. From his brother.

Not his brother. 

It might look like him but the longer they stood there, staring at each other, the more certain Virgil became. Something in his very soul told him that he wasn’t looking at Roman at all. 

“Who... who are you?” Virgil asked, panic building inside of him. He couldn’t help but be very aware of how vulnerable he was right now. “How did you get in here without setting off the alarms?”

The not!Roman grinned. 

That was the biggest difference. Where his brother preened and beamed, giving a smile that would put a Disney Prince to shame, this fake version had a somewhat demanted grin. It was too wide and bright for comfort, something slightly unhinged about it. Without thinking about it, Virgil took a shuffling step backwards. Everything in him was screaming that this was wrong, this was danger and bad and he had to get out of here. The only door was behind the person who looked like his brother. 

“I knew it!” The fake chirped brightly, apparently delighted by Virgil’s accusation and he might not know anything about him, but Virgil was fairly certain you weren’t supposed to be that pleased when your attempt at infiltrating somewhere had failed. Maybe Virgil should have played along. Just for a little bit, just until he could get out of immediate danger. That would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, he was facing this other Roman, still beaming. 

“I knew you would know. You’re too good not to know. I’m not that loser Roman, thank goodness! Well done!” 

Despite the danger he was in, Virgil couldn’t help but feel a swell of self righteous anger rise in him. Roman was many things, but a loser was not one of them. 

Even if he _was_ , only Virgil was allowed to call him that

“Come on little bro. Let’s go home.”

Virgil opened his mouth, a thousand thoughts rushing through his head. Who was this person? What did they want? Why were they calling him brother? Virgil had exactly one brother and although this man looked pretty much identical to Roman, he knew it wasn’t him. What was home? Why did they think that he would want to go anywhere with them? 

Was Roman okay?

There was no time to voice any of them however, a fist flying towards his face and Virgil hadn’t even noticed the man get closer. He didn’t notice anything but the first that filled his vision and the pain that blossomed from his nose. Something hot and wet ran down his face, Virgil for a moment unsure if it was tears or blood. 

Or both. It was both, he could taste the mix of salt and iron in his mouth as droplets trailed downwards. Virgil staggered backwards with a yelp, his hand flying up to his face, cradling his nose and what if it was broken? What if he started to suffocate because he couldn’t breathe through his nose? His panic attacks made it harder to breathe in the first place. Without his nose, he could only rely on his mouth, and what good would that be?

At his feet, he heard the whirl of wheels as the little robot moved forward, clearly intending to try and protect him. How, Virgil didn’t know, but there was no doubt that Tom was going to try. Even if it was just by running over the man’s toes. Followed by the sound of something striking metal and a frantic beep that skidded away from them both. 

“Tom!” Virgil cried out. He blinked, trying to will away the tears and everything was a blurry mess. He couldn’t see Tom, he could barely even see his enemy.

“Don’t worry Virgie, I’ll make it up to him!” The stranger again, talking as if he knew Virgil. As if Virgil knew him. “I’m sorry Tom, don’t worry you’re coming too, I know how much you and my brother love each other.” 

A thick and rather cloying smelling rag was pressed over his face, Virgil buckling against it. Another arm wrapped around his chest, pulling him backwards and pinning him against the stranger so he couldn’t break free. For a second, everything seemed to be suspended in amber, a moment where nothing happened and Virgil was aware of everything going on. Of the cloth against his face that was dosed in some manner of drug. Of the way the man was almost cradling him, trying to support even as he pinned. Of the sound of metal against metal as Tom tried to move. 

He breathed in, choking and gasping on the fumes. The pressure on his nose was agony, and made it impossible for Virgil to even try and hold his breath. He needed to breathe, he needed air. Everything hurt and as much as he didn’t want to breathe in the drugs, there was little choice. 

Fingers clawed desperately at the man’s arm, trying to find bare skin or something weaker, something Virgil could use to get some kind of purchase. Anything to try and make the man relax his grip and let him go. Virgil’s nails caught against the man’s wrist, and he could feel them dragging against skin but it didn’t make him loosen his hold. 

“It’s okay Virgil, it’s okay...” The stranger soothed, the cloth still clamped tightly against his mouth and nose. “So proud of you, you go you funky emo you. I knew you wouldn’t go down without a fight, but you tried and it’s over now. I’m sorry it has to be this way but we don’t have time. Those idiots will be back before you know it and I can’t let you be hurt any further. Everything is going to be much better now, you’ll see! Oh, you’ll see...” 

That sounded vaguely ominous. As though everything else that had been said wasn’t. Virgil struggled again in the hold, his limbs growing heavy and hard to control. Fighting felt like a lot of hard work. His fingers slipped against the arm, nails no longer digging but simply skimming across fabric. The world grew dimmer around the edges, already blurring images getting darker with each passing second. 

“Easy now Virgie, easy.” The voice was still whispering in his ear. So much like Roman’s. A little higher perhaps but it was still very obviously his brothers. It made no sense. 

His thoughts spiraled into darkness, Virgil’s body finally going limp as he passed out.


	2. Gains and Losses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tired but victorious in their quest to rescue Roman, the team return home and discover what they missed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hello. And here we are, with chapter two. Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos, it means the world to me that you’re as eager for this story as I am to write it. I loved each and every theory, congrats to those who guessed correctly about who Remus really is. 
> 
> And now, without any further ado, let’s jump back into the action. And back to Logan’s PoV. I couldn’t stay away for long.
> 
> Tumblr gonna tumble. Come say hi @theeternalspace

** **

### Gains and Losses

** **

As far as rescues went, Logan had seen worse. He had seen better too. All in all, a slightly underwhelming rescue. It was a passing grade, a C minus. Not one of his proudest moments and not one he was willing to either repeat or discuss in the future. All he wanted to do was get home and get changed. One of the rooms they had searched had been booby trapped with some particularly toxic fluids. While they had been able to neutralize the damage and danger it posed, they hadn’t been able to remove the smell.

At least not from Logan’s nostrils. Every time he breathed in, he caught a new whiff of it, all over again. It was disgusting and the thought of five showers in a row sounded very appealing. Still, they were back in the van again at last. Patton was driving, his fingers curled tightly around the steering wheel. Logan was sitting near the back, eyes fixed on the road behind them.

They hadn’t left much of the building standing but that didn’t mean they were safe. There had been no hint within as to whose lair it was. Logan hesitated to actually use that word. The villain hadn’t been there for a start. There had been plenty of minions, plenty of death robots they had smashed, but no actual person in charge. Not to mention, most lairs were customised to the villain's personal taste. The compound had none of that. It was more a maze than anything else. A series of rooms filled with traps and tests. And at the centre of it, various laboratories and cells. Only one cell had been occupied. 

His eyes shifted from the road to glance over his shoulder for a moment. Remy sat on the side seat, his whole body angled so he could focus on the makeshift stretcher that took up the majority of the space within the back. Roman lay on it, strapped to the bed. Less to hold him against his will and more to make sure he didn’t fall off as they drove frantically home. Not that they needed to worry about him trying to struggle free and proclaim that he didn’t need to be treated like some invlaid. 

Roman hadn’t woken up yet. He had been unconscious when they had finally found him. Logan could still picture the scene with sickening clarity. The way the door had resisted their combined might for a couple of moments, longer than any door before. That alone had told Logan that whatever was on the other side was either very dangerous, or very prized by the villian.

As it turned out, it had been both. Roman had been lying so still on a bed, various monitors hooked up to him. An IV line had been in his arm, some strange pale green liquid dripping into his veins second by second. Logan knew he should have gone straight to the machines, to try and see what they were recording and if it was safe to unplug them but he found himself unable to move. He had just stood there, staring at Roman. 

The thing that had struck him, more than anything else, was how _still_ Roman had been. Logan wasn’t sure if he had ever seen Roman that still before. Even on the rare occasions when he had come into his room to find his friend sleeping, it had been a restless sort of sleep. It had come with movement and life. Not.. this statue on a bed. Remy and Patton stood on either side of him, also staring, stunned. 

It was Remy who had moved first. A brisk shake of his head and he was marching firmly across the room, Patton and then Logan in hot pursuit. There wasn’t enough time to properly look at anything. Not beyond a cursory glance to make sure it was safe to unhook him. Logan itched to be able to spend time researching and recording whatever it was that was being done to Roman. To learn for the sake of learning, but also so that he knew how best to help Roman. 

The compound wasn’t completely clear of enemies however and they had to move fast. They had to get him out of there, back the way they came through rooms that had already been rendered safe. All the back back down the mountain, Remy and Logan supporting their unconscious friend. Patton brought up the rear, the normally cheerful superhero silent and watchful. 

Which led them to here, stuck in the van and driving home. They had rescued Roman and by all accounts, the mood should be celebratory. Not this uncertain gloom that had descended on them all. Not even Logan was immune to the strange feeling. It was hard to be pleased with oneself when the rescue had gone that poorly. When Roman was still unconscious and there was no way to even start to make sure he was okay until they got him home. 

Patton skidded to a stop, brakes screeching in protest. Logan’s whole body weaved from side to side at the sudden movement, and he felt like an extra in some cheap sci-fi show.

“Patton? Is something wrong?” Logan asked. Patton ignored him, undoing his seat belt and half climbing out of the open window. He balanced himself on the open window, his legs still dangling inside. It was impossible to know what he was doing out there - this was Patton, it could, in effect, be anything. Logan gritted his teeth together and looked back down the road. Still quiet. Still no sign of any pursuit and it was possible that they had done enough damage that the villain had given up on keeping Roman.

Possible, but not statistically very likely. 

“Sorry Logan,” Patton looked a little sheepish as he slid back in, taking a moment to fasten himself securely before starting the engine up again.

“What was that in aid of? We don’t have time for games, Patton.” Logan tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, he really did. It was hard sometimes when it came to Patton. As much as he had grown to love and treasure his friend, he never understood how his mind worked. Patton was just as likely to stop to stare at a pretty bird as he was to stop to avoid hitting a person. 

“I was waving to Virgil,” Patton explained. “He’ll be watching the cameras. Ten seconds to reassure him that we have his brother. I figured it was worth it, that he would understand what I was doing.”

Virgil. Logan hadn’t even taken him into account. Of _course_ he would be watching the cameras and of course he would be concerned beyond measure. Logan had had to all but tie him to his computer chair, he had been that determined to go with them despite both of them knowing that he wouldn’t be able to contribute in any meaningful way.

In the end, it had taken Logan pointing out that Roman would never forgive himself if anything happened to Virgil on the rescue mission for him to give in and flop rather sulkily onto the chair, firing up the computers as he went. 

Of _course_ he would be watching for any sign of them coming back. Of _course_ he needed that reassurance. It would have been cruel for no purpose to not give him a signal. 

Logan felt uncomfortable with his train of thought. Not the thoughts themselves - he agreed with the path they took and he was pleased with the eventual outcome. Virgil was his friend and he had failed to consider how he would be feeling. He hadn’t even thought of offering any reassurance because he had been too focused on his narrow responsibilities. As disappointing as it was to know that he hadn’t thought of Virgil properly, at least Patton had. That wasn’t the problem. 

What he didn’t like was how rapidly he had dismissed Patton’s actions. He had formed a judgement on his behaviour before getting all the data he actually needed. He had decided that Patton had been doing something foolish and had let himself get annoyed as a result when really all Patton had been doing was proving how much he cared. 

Logan still had a long way to go before he could consider himself a proper friend to them all. 

They were moving again, speeding back home. Logan tried to let the sensation of the van moving calm him, each mile getting them closer to real safety. 

Roman stirred a little. Logan knew he should remain at his post, but there had been no sign of anything so far. It was dangerous but he could risk it just for a moment. Just to ensure that Roman was okay. Patton’s eyes kept flickering up to look in the rear view mirror, but he kept on driving them all. The least Logan could do was help Remy so that he could offer his own reassurance in turn. He could still be a good friend. 

“Hey Ro, you back with us?” Remy asked. Roman simply blinked. He stared up at Remy with a somewhat dazed expression on his face. The goggle’s probably weren’t helping matters. 

“Roman? Can you hear me?” Logan asked carefully. Roman’s gaze slid away from Remy to look at him. A slow smile spread across his face as his mind apparently caught up with himself. 

“Logan, Logan, it was brilliant!”

“Have you perhaps hit your head?” Logan asked. Not unkindly, he felt. There were many reactions he could have expected from Roman after they had saved him. Many more, when he took into account that it was Roman and not anyone else that they were rescuing. And yet, despite all of that, Roman had managed to say one of the few things Logan had not anticipated. Of course he would. Why would Roman ever behave in an expected manner? 

The reaction to anyone sane about being kidnapped was not to describe it as ‘brilliant’. 

“No, you don’t understand! It was Ozumondo!” Roman tried to sit up as he spoke, straining against the restraints, Remy automatically reaching out and pushing him back down. Later, Logan would no doubt tell Virgil this story as a means of cheering his friend up. How easily Roman had been pushed back. It had barely been a push, more a gentle nudge. Much, much later, he would tell this story. When everyone was safe and well. Virgil would love to tease Roman about it. At the correct time.

The correct time was not when Roman had just dropped that bombshell on them. Logan felt a dip in his stomach that he couldn’t blame on the bumps in the road. Eyes lifted to meet the goggled gaze of Remy. The other hero looked impassive as always. Still waters.

There was no way he was that relaxed and calm on the inside. 

Ozumondo.

One of the twelve...

“Roman... you understand, that isn’t a good thing?” Logan asked carefully. Logan would have been happy to have never met any of the twelve. The most powerful super villians in the whole world. Competition to be included was fierce and even when he had been a villain himself, Logan had been more interested in his own work and staying out of their way. He certainly would never have wanted to work for any of them - not that you could say no if they came knocking. 

Working for one was almost certainly death. And Ozumondo was one of the worst. If his memory served him correctly, he was the third longest serving member of the twelve. Which meant he inspired fear and respect in equal measures. No doubt there would have been fools who would have tried to defeat him in order to claim his place - the only way you could join the ranks of the twelve was by killing the previous incombrant. Anyone who tried would have been swatted away like a bug. 

And that was the enemy that had taken Roman. 

There was no way they had gotten away as cleanly as it seemed. Logan slid back to the back of the van, scanning the land behind them frantically. Somehow, this wasn’t going as well as they thought. Somehow. The blow was going to land and he didn’t know how to stop it. Or even what it was.

No, it’s a great thing! That’s a top tier villain Logan! We’re talking about a major player! Take over the world major player. The kind that threatens to do that but would actually try before being thwarted by a hero. This isn’t just citywide stuff! They are important and they came after _me_.” 

Roman’s eyes were shining brightly. He obviously had no idea that Ozumondo was one of the twelve. Assuming he even knew of their existence. It wasn’t a topic Logan had ever brought up before, simply because none of them operated anywhere near the city and why offer Roman such a tempting target? Talk of someone that powerful and important, and he would want to run off to be squashed by them.

“They knew about me! That’s amazing guys! I’m moving up in the world.”

“That’s terrifying,” Remy broke in, his normally light tone completely missing. It was strange to hear him so serious. “Roman. This isn’t a game.” 

Roman deflated slightly, shifting in the bed so he could stare at the opposite wall and not Remy. 

“Okay. Yeah. A little bit. But still!” He smiled once more, composing himself. This time however, Logan could see that the smile was a little too bright. The gaze was just a little too studied. Everything was a little too... shining. Too fake. Logan wasn’t exactly well versed in social cues but now he took an extra moment, it was obvious that Roman was not as pleased as he acted.

“What did he do?” Remy asked, voicing Logan’s own silent question. 

“He...” Roman shook his head, smile wobbling a little. “Look, Virgil is going to want to know and I don’t... I don’t really want to go through it twice. So could we not? Right now anyway?”

“Fine. We’ll be back soon anyway.” 

They lapsed back into silence. Logan forced himself to keep staring out of the back of the van. It was hard not to give into the temptation to shift back up next to Remy, to demand answers from Roman. He hated not knowing something. He hated it even more when it was like this, when there was a real threat and they needed as much information as quickly as possible. 

Patton and Roman wouldn’t understand though. Remy would. And, Logan thought, Virgil might understand too. Virgil got a lot of things that the more optimistic heroes didn’t. He saw the word in its grey, miserable state. He saw danger where they only saw hope. But Roman wouldn’t tell him. Not without a struggle and by the time he had managed to convince Roman to share what he knew, they would be back at the base anyway. 

It felt like an eternity, sitting there, watching an empty road. With each passing mile, the sick feeling in his stomach only grew. To all intents and purposes, they had got away.

Except it had been _Ozumondo_.

Logan breathed out through his nose and tried not to panic. It was a relief when Patton finally pulled into the underground parking space, the rest of the world closing behind them. Locked out. Logan needed to do a proper check of the van, in case it had been discovered and tampered with while they were gone. He also needed to check Roman over for any hidden injuries. He needed to talk to Virgil. He needed to learn what had actually happened.

The latter two desires won out. 

Roman grumpily accepted the help, allowing the two to support him as they shuffled through the base. To Logan’s surprise, Virgil hadn’t come out to meet them. That made no sense. Virgil had been so worried about Roman’s safety. He had grown increasingly concerned with their own when they had announced their intent to storm the base. 

Why wouldn’t he come out to meet them? Even if by some strange chance he hadn’t seen Patton wave on the way back, the fact they had entered the parking garage would have tripped all sorts of sensors. If Virgil had been even vaguely looking in the direction of the internal system, he should have noticed. There were a lot of things that Virgil should have done and yet he hadn’t. A lot that didn’t make sense. 

Logan met the blank, black gaze of goggles and nodded slightly. 

“Let’s go say hi to Virgil since you insist you're fine,” Remy suggested, cutting over the endless grumble of complaints that Roman was saying. It wasn’t a surprise to hear Roman trying to argue against going to the medical bay and normally Logan would have ignored it. This wasn’t a normal time. The fact that he and Remy had been able to communicate silently, when one was wearing goggles, was proof of that.

“Oh god, he’ll just worry worse than you lot,” Roman complained. He didn’t actually stop them from changing direction and heading towards the computer core. He would want to see Virgil just as badly as Virgil wanted to see him. Logan’s worry grew. Roman was right. Virgil would worry more than all of them. Possibly even more than all of them put together. 

So why wasn’t he already here, doing it?

They shuffled awkwardly along the corridors, moving further and further in. Roman started to lean on them heavier as time passed, his body shaking a little from the effort. Logan swallowed heavily and kept moving. He didn’t want to consider that they had perhaps made a mistake, that they should have insisted Roman go to the medical room first and check in on Virgil. It was too late for regrets now, the entrance to Virgil’s den of computers thankfully appearing around a corner. 

The room was empty.

That... made no sense. Logan was used to things making sense. To a degree. And this refused to do so. Logan sat down at the desk, peering upwards at the various screens. The ones that were trained on camera were still fixed on some far out of town view. A road that they probably had driven along. It was hard to tell for sure, Logan’s memories of the road were framed through a back window and not this angle. 

That uneasy feeling in his chest only grew stronger. 

Fingers flew across the keyboard, Logan pulling up logs and camera recordings from the base. All the alarms were still active and that should have reassured him. It didn’t. The lack of Virgil seemed wrong, it pugged and ached at every part of him. There was no way Virgil would have popped out for a snack run or anything. Not at a time like this. 

The codes used to get in without triggering the alarms were Roman’s. Logan’s eyebrows raised, almost vanishing in his hairline as he stared at the timestamp. They had been used nearly an hour ago. But at that time... Roman had been unconscious in a bed. An hour was probably around about the time they had broken down the door and found him. 

He risked a glance to the side. Roman was leaning on Remy heavily, his face pale. Brown eyes were shifting around the room, looking for Virgil. He seemed strangely subdued, quieter than Logan would have expected. 

Had Roman broken under interrogation? Or worse, had they done something to him? So he had betrayed them without even knowing it? Could they trust Roman? Logan felt sick for even considering it, but he couldn’t ignore the data. Which said quite clearly that Roman’s knowledge had been used against them. 

“Is... is he mad at me?” Roman asked at last. 

“What?”

“Virgil. He’s not here. And he tends to either attack or run away from problems rather than talk about them. Is he... mad that I got hurt? That I let him down?” Roman looked so crushed as he spoke, and for a long moment Logan actually considered it. Could that be what had happened? It didn't explain the code, but that could have been a glitch. Or Virgil making a point, because for all that the codes were meant to be unique to them, he had no doubt Virgil knew them all.

Had Virgil run off because his own emotions had overwhelmed him? 

“No,” Logan decided firmly. Whatever was going on here, it wasn’t that. He refused to believe it was that. Virgil would never have done that. He had been so worried before they left, but so determined to help. “He wanted to tell you off. He didn’t run.”

Which begged the question of where he was then. Logan pulled up various internal recordings, scanning them from roughly an hour ago, searching for any hint of life. Anything that could answer the question. He could see the doors to this room from the outside. There certainly didn’t seem to be any indication that Virgil was planning to leave any time soon, no movement in that direction, and so Logan focused his attention on the corridors around the area. 

“There!”

A shadow. Logan followed its course across the various cameras in the base. It was harder than he expected. Almost as though whoever had broken in had known exactly where all the cameras were placed and how to avoid them. Even with the camera trained on the door to this room, Logan could only make out a blur, a flash of movement as whoever it was slipped inside. 

His exit was easier to track.

Mostly because Virgil’s still form was slung over his shoulder. It was a lot harder for him to stick to the blind-spots completely - and although he was still avoiding looking at the camera, thus denying Logan a clear view of his face, it was still very clearly a ‘he’. The man had Virgil over one shoulder, and a heavy looking backpack over the other. How he was able to carry both was a worry. An enemy with superhuman strength? Well, that was all they needed.

The kidnapper reached a more brightly lit section of the base. Logan hit pause, freezing the image just as the man reached the centre of the screen. It was still hard to get a good view of him. So much was obscured by the bag and Virgil. But Logan could see a little. It looked... it looked a lot like Roman. 

“Oh... oh god.. It got out.” Roman had shuffled closer, one hand gripping the back of the chair. Logan could hear it creak under the pressure, metal bending slightly under the strain of the emotions running through Roman.

“What did? Roman, what happened back there?” Logan knew he had wanted to wait until Virgil was there too, but with everything going on, they couldn’t afford to wait. 

“I... the villain... He. He strapped me down. Injected me with something so I couldn’t use my powers. There were a lot of scans, a lot of recording. I wasn’t awake for most of it but I saw the end result.” Roman closed his eyes for a moment, breathing heavily. When he opened them again, Logan was shocked at what he could see in them. 

Fear. Pure, unadulterated, fear. Logan didn’t think he had ever seen Roman look that scared. Not even when he had confronted Logan all those months ago when he saw him as just another enemy. One that had possibly hurt his baby brother. There had been some fear then yes, but nothing compared to this. What had Ozumondo done to him? 

“He... he cloned me.”

“There... there are two of you now?” Logan’s voice dropped to a horrified whisper as the implications of that sentence ran through his mind. Two Roman’s. The world wasn’t ready for that. 

The world - and Logan by extension - was barely prepared to deal with one Roman. 

Roman seemed oblivious to the fear that had been in Logan’s voice. He was still staring at the frozen image of what was apparently his clone, kidnapping his brother. On another screen, Logan pulled up the feed, letting it run. There might be a better image, something they could use. 

Instead, all they saw was Virgil’s unconscious body being bundled into one of their own vehicles. The tracker was ripped out by hand, the clone carelessly tossing it into a corner as he drove off. With Virgil in the passenger seat. 

Someone had taken Virgil.

Again.


	3. The Rules of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Apologies for the delay between chapters, things kept getting in the way but we are here with chapter three now! Time to check back in with Virgil, learn one or two things, make some mistakes, have some fun. All that good stuff.
> 
> Not much else to say, not feeling great but I wanted to get this out to you guys tonight. 
> 
> Tumblr gonna tumblr. Come say hi @theeternalspace

** **

### The Rules of the Game

** **

The world kept shifting in and out of focus. Virgil wanted to reach out and grab the moments where things were lit up, where he was aware of anything. He blinked and he was slumped in a car, his cheek pressed up against a cool window. Another blink and he was on his back, staring up at a cracked ceiling draped in cobwebs. Another and there was a figure in the room with him. Then gone again. His world was nothing but those blinks, those tiny snapshots of time.

The figure, blurred and unrecognisable as he was, was the only constant. Not every time. But more often than not, he would blink awake to find the shape beside him. Pressing a cooling pad against his nose or coaxing some liquid down his throat. Or a sharp prick in his arm as the world faded away into darkness again. 

Virgil lost count of the number of moments he had endured, lost track of reality or any real thought. He blinked, he experienced, and then he slept again.

Until eventually, he woke and stayed awake.

The world was in focus. He was on a bed, staring up at a ceiling that was tiled, large, pale blue squares mixing with cream. That wasn’t his bedroom’s ceiling. There was no black or purple, no shadows that cast familiar, comforting shapes. Where was he? What was going on? Virgil felt so weak. It was a struggle to even push himself upright, his limbs trembling and protesting against the movement but eventually he had managed to force himself into a sitting position so he could take in his surroundings properly.

The room was fairly bare. A bed, a chair with a small table beside it complete with a lamp and a small stack of books. There was a window directly opposite from him. Thick curtains covered it, blocking out any light although the slight movement gave Virgil hope that the window itself was open. If that was the case then that meant a way out of here. 

Wherever here was. 

Memories were blurry, a mess of different images splattered across his mind’s eye. He remembered the computer room. He remembered being faced by a Roman who wasn’t Roman. If that had been all that he remembered, Virgil might have passed it off as a very weird dream. The result of too much cheese and conspiracy theories late at night. 

There was more though. A lot more. There were moments of a high pitched laugh, of giggles that filled a room. Apologising. He remembered a lot of... apologising? Apologising for hurting him, for scaring him. Saying sorry for a punch and then some drugs. Gingerly, Virgil lifted a hand to his face, feeling around his nose. It felt tender still, a little bruised, but nor nearly as painful as he would have expected after that sudden and sharp punch. 

Which made no sense. Just like how the strangers half remembered ramblings made no sense. Virgil shifted again in the bed, swinging his legs over the edge. He wasn’t going to get any answers just sitting here staring at this room. And while it would be wonderful if Roman would smash through the door in all his protective big brother glory, Virgil wasn’t going to just sit here and wait for that. 

Not to mention, he still had no idea if Roman was even free. 

He had to be free. Virgil had to find out. Had to help. Another reason why he wasn’t going to just wait to be saved. If he could get to the clearly open window, then he could maybe get out. At the very least, he would have some idea of where he was and Virgil could work with that. All he needed now was to convince his legs that they wanted to do the work too. 

It took more effort than Virgil would have liked, to pull himself up by his feet. With every passing second however, things became slightly easier. His limbs still ached but now that Virgil took a few moments to properly think about it, it felt more like the ache that came after a long sleep when you were overly stiff and needed to stretch it out. Muscles protested at the effort, but even that was more a good kind of protest, as though they were gradually waking up. 

Aside from his confusion and somewhat aching nose, Virgil almost felt... good. The calm before the storm no doubt. Virgil had been kidnapped before. He knew the dance. It would start off similar to this. The promise of no pain, that offer of an easier existence. How good things could be if only he would behave. And then, when he inevitably refused to betray his brother and friends, it would shift. A rapid, horrible downward spiral where his kidnapper would grandly announce things like ‘you’re making me do this’ or ‘this can end any time you choose, just say the word.’

This wasn’t his first rodeo. He hadn’t given in then, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to give in now. Even if this was different in that they were trying to confuse him by having a fake Roman involved. Virgil tried not to think about how much more it would hurt, if they used that stranger to do the torture or interrogation. He knew it wasn’t Roman but at the same time, to see the face of his brother, as he hurt him? 

Virgil wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to survive that.

Which was why he had to get out of here before they reached that stage. Now it was time to leave the support of the bed and get to that window, and everything it promised. It was only ten or so paces from here to the window. He could do that easily. Virgil exhaled, nodding to himself and took the first step. Only to freeze at the sounds of movement outside the no doubt locked door. 

The door to the room - Virgil had been through all of this before, he refused to think of it as ‘his’ room because that was the start of a slippery slope - burst open with the sort of force that Virgil was used to seeing with a rescue. So much so in fact, that the door was half off its hinges, hanging from the frame at a very unpleasant angle. The door... hadn’t been locked. Whoever had kicked it open hadn’t bothered to unlock it first and... Virgil wasn’t really sure what the dance was if they hadn’t locked his door. They hadn’t chained him up either so what was the game here? 

A figure at once familiar and utterly alien rushed inside, dashing any hopes Virgil might have had that this was a rescue. As much as it looked like Roman - it wasn’t. Just as it hadn’t been last time he had stood and faced him, hoping it was his brother. 

“Yay, you’re awake properly!” The not!Roman chirped. He grabbed the chair that was by the table, dragging it along the ground with a high pitched squeal. It only took a couple of seconds to reach the bed, and then to slam it down beside. 

He either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the way Virgil flinched at the noise, half falling, half sitting back down on the bed. The stranger dropped down on the chair, still grinning brightly. He reminded Virgil of an over excited puppy.

If the puppy was foaming at the mouth and was ready to bite at a moment's notice. 

“Sorry about last week, but I maybe got a little impulsive. I should have made sure we had, ya know, a home to come back to before I saved you but I was just so worried. I had to get you out of there. Don’t worry, I’ve got the place all sorted now, as soon as you’re feeling up to it, we can go home at last!”

_Saved_ him? Was that really how the man saw it? This was going to be a very confusing kidnapping experience, that was for sure. The sort where they tried to mess with your mind as well as your body. Virgil really hated those. At least when they hurt him physically, there was something to react to, something to protect and something in turn to hold onto. When they tried to twist his mind up mentally it got a lot harder. Virgil just had to stay strong. The others were going to find him and until then he had to ignore anything the stranger might say about them not loving him or how it would be fun to be bad. 

Hopefully he would get bored quickly and they could move onto the physical torture. 

The man leaned forward, one hand brushing down his hair, letting bangs fall around his eyes. Virgil held his breath, waiting for the opening salvo. What would it be? Nobody had come, nobody cared, but he was here for Virgil? It usually was something along those lines. 

“Well? What do you think?” 

Virgil blinked in bewilderment. The man was pointing at his hair. That... that wasn’t how this interaction was supposed to go. Virgil had been mentally gearing himself up to protect himself against an attack, not against a question about how his hair looked. It left him floundering, lost and confused. 

The person still looked like Roman. Looked so much like his brother that it made Virgil’s heart hurt. His brother. Was he okay? Had they managed to save him? They had to have saved him. The combined might of the three of them against a base had to have been enough. The only reason they had lost Roman in the first place was because his idiot brother had run off to face the biggest robot alone. 

If Virgil closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that the person in front of him was Roman. He could almost trick himself into thinking he really was home, just as the man said. 

And yet not at the same time. 

There were a couple more obvious differences between them now. The slightest start of a moustache growing on his upper lip was one. The biggest was the streak of white in his bangs, the man still pointing at it proudly. Had he... dyed it? Why would he dye a streak white? Not that Virgil had any room to talk, the tips of his own hair were a rich, dark purple. But that wasn’t a steak of white that made him look like a male version of Rogue from the X-Men. 

His costume had been ripped and torn. Virgil might have assumed he had been in a fight, except there was no dirt over it. No signs of a real struggle. It looked more as if the tears had been done by the man himself and that... was weird. The bright red sash was completely missing, something Virgil felt almost pleased about. It was one less way to be confused about who he was looking at. This wasn’t Roman and with every passing second, Virgil could tell that more and more clearly. He knew he was looking at a stranger.

Who was still waiting for an answer.

“It looks... not good?” Virgil wasn’t really sure what to say. What the right answer was or what he wanted to say. Did he want to give the right answer? Or the answer that the man wanted to hear? If it was the later, he had already messed up because there was no way he 

The man simply laughed. Maybe he did want to hear it was rubbish. He didn’t look offended by the words, and that gave Virgil a strange little burst of confidence, enough to finally voice the overwhelming question in his mind.

“So who are you?” Virgil asked. 

“You can call me Remus little brother!” The man - no Remus - told him. Remus? Weird name but Virgil really couldn’t judge. It kind of fit for all of its oddness though. It was roman, just like his own. Just like Roman. Which was probably the point when the rest of the sentence finally sunk in. This wasn’t the first time that Remus had made that claim. Virgil just hadn’t been in a position to argue about it before, since Remus had been drugging him unconscious. 

“I’m not- I’m not your brother,” Virgil finally spluttered out. Again, it would have been easier to just nod and go along with things. To pretend and wait for his opening but then that wasn’t Virgil’s way. Honestly, all the way down to hell. It was all that he knew to do. 

“You’re Roman’s brother aren’t you?” Remus asked. 

He knew Roman’s real name. In his heart Virgil had already known that he would, but there was a difference between knowing - or believing it - and then actually hearing it out loud. Remus said it so casually as well, so easily. As if it wasn’t some big secret that they all had to keep for everyone’s safety. 

“If you’re Roman’s brother, you’re mine. Because I’m him. But not. I’m better!” Remus was making absolutely no sense. Which was pretty par for the course for all his conversations with him so far. All Virgil knew for sure was that he seemed sort of crazy. And looked like Roman. Most importantly, he had drugged and kidnapped Virgil. 

Could Virgil not even go a whole year without being kidnapped by someone crazy? Just one year? Was that so much to ask? A year where he wasn’t drugged, beaten or messed around in some fashion? This was giving him a major headache and Virgil was sorely tempted to just lie down and pull the covers back over him and sleep until the world started making sense again. He had a horrible feeling if he tried that however, Remus would just pull them off. 

Which left him the only option of asking more questions and getting Remus talking. Conversation. Virgil hated conversation. 

“Um... sorry, what?” 

I thought you’re smart Virgie.” Remus had the nerve to pout at Virgil as he spoke, as though Virgil was somehow disappointing him, as if he was being the unreasonable, weird one here. “You’re my genius brother and you can’t work this out?”

I... please,” Virgil begged, his head throbbing. “My head hurts. Just... small words. Take pity on me?”

“Your head?” Instantly, Remus was in front of him, worry in those wide brown eyes. Honest to god worry. It took Virgil’s breath away to meet those eyes and realise that whatever else was going on, Remus actually cared about him. It was impossible to fake that level of tenderness. Virgil knew, because Ms. Dragon Witch had tried it herself. 

Like Remus, she had kidnapped him. Like Remus, it had been violent. And like Remus, she had tried to flip the script and feign some caring when the opportunity arose. Virgil hadn’t believed her, not for a second. He knew real caring when he saw it and it hadn’t been in those eyes.

These though... well, these were Roman’s eyes. Virgil knew what it looked like when Roman lied to him. He knew what it looked like when he told the truth as well, and there was truth now. That still didn’t explain how they could possibly be Roman’s eyes. Was this Roman after all? Brainwashed into some other personality, but the original one was still trying to shine through? Virgil needed answers. 

He swallowed lightly as Remus reached out, one hand brushing against his forehead. The motion was remarkably tender, another example of true caring. Remus’ tongue poked out ever so slightly from between his teeth as he stared at him.

“You don’t feel hot... might just be some lingering after effects. Ok. Story time!” Remus pulled away, doing a jazz hands motion to try and spice up the story. 

He needn't have bothered. Virgil was already hanging on his every word. 

“So... Princey has really pissed off a lot of villains. It’s amazing. Ozumondo decided he was going to deal with him, only he is boring and he decided to do it the way he deals with pretty much any hero.”

“Which is?” Virgil prompted after a few seconds of silence from Remus. His mind was racing. Ozumondo? He’d heard of that name of course. Shortly after Remy had defected to his side, Virgil had helped him through a nightmare. He didn’t even know if Remy remembered it or not. His friend had never mentioned it and Virgil wasn’t going to be the one to bring up the conversation they had had. Or how Remy had woken up screaming that name. It had taken Virgil ages to calm him, to convince him that they were all safe and lull him back to sleep. 

The next day, he had waited until they were all out patrolling before searching for any information on this Ozumondo - or as Virgil quickly decided to call him, Ozzy. The hardest part was spelling the name right. Once he got that, it had been easy to come across news report after news report. A villain. Not really a surprise. And a bad one. Also not a surprise.

The level of his power and evilness, had been a little... unsettling. To say the least. He committed crimes and racked up a body count that made Virgil sick to even read about. He couldn’t find any information about a time when Sleep and Ozzy had worked together, but the news didn’t cover every single attack. Virgil would have to ask Remy if he wanted more details, and that wasn’t happening. There was no way to know for sure if they had worked together or against each other.

From the terror in Remy’s voice that night, it was clear that whatever their interactions had been, it hadn’t ended well. 

Virgil had made a mental note to keep an eye on this Ozzy. To do whatever he could to make sure Remy never had to face him again. Before scrubbing the search history and hiding any evidence that he had been researching big bads. It seemed as if his program in the mainframe, to tag any news on Ozzy hadn’t caught the fact he had come to their home city. 

Unless he was keeping it secret which was also bad. The whole thing was bad and Virgil hated every moment of it. 

“Well. He takes them, clones them, then lets the clone destroy everything they care about. Their reputation, their city, their family... eventually even themselves because by then the hero is usually so worn down by everything that happened to them, that they can’t put up a good fight. You fools lost a lot of good heroes over the years that way.” Remus paused, considering his words. Virgil blinked a little and it was true, every six months or so, it felt as though there was another hero falling to the ‘dark side’. 

Until this moment, he had never really questioned it. Not beyond a long suffering sigh and roll of his eyes. Or a secret little twinge of worry about the possibility of Roman falling prey to such temptations. Now he was being told that for a lot of them, it hadn’t even been them. That changed... everything. 

“At least that is what I think the plan was. Honestly, I got tired of listening to him rambling on about all his success and how it was a fool proof plan, blah, blah, blah. All I heard was that I was to hurt and then kill, Roman’s family...” 

“You’re going to kill me?” Virgil whispered. Instantly his mind was filled with all the horrible ways in which this clone could kill him. Was he going to make it slow? Make it hurt? Make sure that Roman knew that it hurt? Virgil didn’t want to die, he really didn’t. More than that, he didn’t want his death to be used to hurt Roman further. He didn’t want his brother to weep over his corpse.

Really, he didn’t want to be a corpse at all. The idea made him feel faint, Virgil sensing the blood draining from his face as he stared fearfully at Remus. 

“No!” Remus looked horrified at the idea. For a moment at least. Then a smile slid back on his face, bright and cheerful again. He slapped his side, appearing more amused than anything else and was that how Virgil was going to die? As a joke? 

“Oh your expression was priceless! As if I’d hurt you! It didn’t work. Whatever he was doing. So I came out with all of Bore-man’s memories and thoughts and stuff. And yeah, destroying him sounds like fun... but I don’t wanna be him. And I’m not leaving you alone with Roman. He let you be taken! Twice! You were hurt on his watch! You’re my brother and I care. So we’re here.” 

“You... care about me.” The words came out flat, less a question and more a statement. One that didn’t make any sense and should be treated as the ridiculous statement it was. How could Remus care for him? Strangely, Virgil didn’t doubt the story in the slightest. He lived in a world of people who could fly, summon fire, drown people in their own blood and so much more besides. The idea that some villain had managed to perfect full body cloning complete with transferring memory just sounded like something that would happen.

“I love you!” Remus replied. There was still that intent look in his eyes, the one that Virgil wanted to believe despite everything. Remus really did love him. So it wasn’t just looks and memory. It was emotional memory too. 

At any other time, Virgil would be fascinated by the whole thing. The concept sounded amazing, if used correctly. It went without saying that the way this Ozzy character was using it, was not the right way. But to be able to clone... yeah, there were a lot of ethical and moral issues to consider, but it opened so many doors. 

Doors that Virgil had no interest in exploring when he just wanted to get home. It was reassuring to know that Remus loved him, but that didn’t change the fact that he had kidnapped him. Or that Remus seemed perfectly okay with torturing Roman. Virgil couldn’t just sit idly by and let that happen. 

“We have lots to do,” Remus informed him. Still cheerful, still so bright that it made Virgil’s eyes hurt and teeth sting. Like biting into a particularly cold ice cream on a hot day. It was bad enough when Roman acted so cheerful. Virgil wanted to punch him sometimes when he did that. Just a little bit. Out of love. Remus didn’t have that same level of love. His punch would hurt. 

“First, we’re gonna go to our new home. And then, we’re gonna go make that Dragon Witch pay! She hurt you and she’s still running about free? Nope! Not on my watch brother dearest.” 

That... didn’t sound too bad actually. 

Virgil never laid any claim to the title of hero. That was something he left to his friends. He liked to think of himself on the side of good, of right. He liked to imagine that he was above such wicked deeds and dark thoughts. Revenge never solved anything. Logically, he knew that. Vengeance only hurt the one who did it. If not at once, then over time. Virgil hated Karen the Dragon Witch, but that didn’t mean he wanted her dead. 

But maybe a _little_ pain? After everything she had done? 

Not just to him, but to Logan? Virgil couldn’t deny that it was tempting, that he wanted her to suffer just a little for it all. 

He had a feeling that whatever Remus had in mind, it was a lot more than simply delivering her to the cops and letting the legal system work its slow business. What was the saying? The wheel grinds slowly but it grinds very small. Except the legal system was as corrupt as the villains themselves. Roman might like to close his eyes to it, but Virgil was more a realist. Just delivering her to the police wouldn’t change anything. 

“No death?” Virgil asked after a couple more moments of warring with himself, and he couldn’t stomach being responsible for someone dying. Even someone as wicked as her.

“No death! That would be way too boring and predictable. And I’ve got the new place to show you in detail! Your room isn’t quite finished yet, but it’s getting there. The colour scheme is very you.” Remus grabbed his arm and started dragging him out of the room. He seemed to have forgotten that Virgil had complained about his head or that he might need any special care. Instead he pretty much charged down a couple of flights of stairs, pulling Virgil along after him.

Virgil changed his mind. Remus _did_ want to torture him. There was no other explanation for why he was being forced to move at such a pace. 

“Remus, slow down! Not everyone is as fit as you,” Virgil complained. He could already feel the air catching in his throat with every inhale. It wouldn’t be long before the dreaded stitch pain arrived and although he would never admit it, that kind of pain was somehow worse than a lot of things used to tortiure. Probably because it was connected to breathing and Virgil had enough trouble with that. Thanks to his anxiety attacks which often left him hyperventilating. Occasionally - embarrassingly - to the extent that he would even pass out from lack of proper oxygen. 

“Sorry! Sorry, Virgil. I got over excited.” Remus actually looked chastised. What was more, he let go of Virgil’s arm as they reached the pavement. The outside world. Normally, Virgil wasn’t a fan. It was way too loud and bright and full of things that wanted to hurt him. Right now, it was glorious because it offered him a way home. 

“That’s okay,” Virgil replied, aware that Remus was staring at him like some kind of expectant puppy. It was clearly the right thing to say because all of a sudden he was beaming again. 

“I’m so glad. I just want to get out of these losers clothes,” Remus complained. He lifted an arm as he spoke, nose wrinkling up in distaste as he stared at the sleeve. Yet again, Virgil forced himself to swallow down the retort that wanted to burst free. That was Roman’s outfit. It wasn’t a loser’s outfit. 

“I did design that.” It was impossible to swallow down all the self righteous fury. Virgil had never been a fan of tact or holding one's tongue. He had fought verbally with all manner of hero and villain. As scary as Remus still was, he couldn’t allow that fear to change him.

“I know and it’s awesome. Just the person it belongs to, less so. Still, you’re gonna make me an even better one, right?” Remus didn’t wait for an answer, simply striding off down the road. He might have worded it like a question but Virgil doubted he had much choice in the matter. If he followed him and went to that building Remus kept talking about, he would end up designing the outfit. And who knew what else besides.

_If_... if he followed him. Remus wasn’t paying him any attention, the man humming cheerfully. He was a good couple of hundred meters away from Virgil now and still hadn’t checked to make sure Virgil was behind him.

Instead, he was just... trusting Virgil to follow him. 

Yes, he said he cared. That he wasn’t going to hurt him. But even though Virgil believed that, there was still the fact that he had kidnapped him and didn’t seem in any hurry to let him go home. To his real home, not this new prison that Remus was talking about. And it didn’t matter how many layers of paint he slapped on the walls, it would still be a prison. 

Virgil couldn’t risk it. What if the cloning technology was merely delayed? If something flipped inside of Remus’ head and he decided he did want to hurt him? What if he used Virgil to hurt Roman? 

There was no time to think or second guess his choice. It would be mere moments before Remus turned around to see where he was. Moments before he realised his mistake and grabbed Virgil again. Remus wouldn’t let go a second time. Virgil might not have another chance at escaping. Wouldn’t that be something, to rescue himself. And there was an alley right beside him. Too tempting to pass up. Virgil darted down the side alley without another thought, racing past trash cans and cardboard boxes.

All he had to do was put some distance between himself and Remus.

Easy.


End file.
